Pitching In: Lee, Papelbon team up to shut down Red Sox

BOSTON — The easy thing that Charlie Manuel could have done would be give the ball back to Cliff Lee — who had been dominant for 95 pitches — for the ninth inning and let him roll the Phillies home.

But what fun would that have been? After all, Manuel, the Phillies’ manager, knows how to tell a story better than anyone else. So he knew that Jonathan Papelbon’s first appearance in a non-Red Sox uniform in the shadow of the Prudential Center would produce great theater.

“I kind of wanted to see it, if you want to know the truth,” Manuel said “What the hell? Pap likes drama. I might as well like it with him.”

Maybe it wasn’t exactly War and Peace. But the moment that Papelbon walked through Fenway Park’s bullpen gate and the chorus of boos reigned down from Red Sox Nation, drama is what they got.

Fortunately for Manuel and Papelbon, it was the only dramatic part of the ninth inning as the Phils’ closer shut down Boston 1-2-3 and preserved Lee’s 3-1 gem Tuesday night before 33,643 in the Back Bay.

“I really wasn’t thinking about it,” Papelbon told reporters afterward. “I was just taking it like I normally would any other game, whether we were playing the Red Sox or the Marlins or anybody else. I was just going about my routine and doing what I know how to do to prepare to pitch in a big league ball game. That was it.”

The win gave Philadelphia a 4-4 road trip and a split in Boston before the two teams head back to Citizens Bank Park to pick up the interleague “rivalry” series Wednesday night.

“You know, 4-4 on road, we’d like to win five or six but we didn’t do it,” Manuel said. “But we were making our way, hitting, since we played in San Francisco. We are playing baseball and we are starting to pick it up some.”

While Papelbon may have been the drama late, the real story of the night was Lee, who improved to 6-2 and matched his 2012 season win total by the end of May. His ERA overall is 2.34.

On Tuesday night, he was good enough to stifle a hot Red Sox squad to just one run and four hits over eight innings. He used one of Boston’s best traits against it, throwing strikes against a team notorious for waiting pitchers out and working counts.

“They have a really good lineup and I tried to do everything to make them swing their way on,” Lee said. “I didn’t want to walk anybody and fortunately, I was able to do that. There’s not many holes in that lineup. From top to bottom, it’s pretty strong. You have to stay ahead and focused.’’

Lee managed to retire 20 of Boston’s last 22 hitters that faced him, sailing through his final four innings without appearing to break much of a sweat on a warm New England night.

“He’s been a lot more consistent with his pitches,” Manuel said. “He has been throwing more quality games than he did last year. And he is really good. When he’s got his cutter and his changeup and his fastball going, and he is locating it, he’s got three out pitches and he becomes tough. That’s the biggest difference I have seen in his pitching, really. I mean, he can pitch in a close game, and also, if we get him some runs he can pitch.”

Still, the decision was made after eight innings and holding a 2-1 lead thanks to an Erik Kratz RBI single in the seventh to pull Lee and go with Papelbon. Dom Brown’s solo homer in the ninth added an extra cushion.

“Pap has been throwing the ball really well so it’s hard to argue with him coming in right there,” Lee said. “Especially back in Boston and it was big to get us the win. I’m sure that he wanted the opportunity. We won the game so it’s hard to question it when you win.”

And as for the moment and the booing, Papelbon seemed to relish the chance and the moment to come in and play spoiler in his old home.

“That’s how they love me in that city,” Papelbon said. “That’s just how it is. I felt like the first time I got booed at Yankee Stadium, I was like, ‘Yes, I made it!’ It’s the atmosphere of the city — I’ve always enjoyed playing in this city — and pitching off that mound. It really felt like old times when I was out there ... just in a different uniform.”

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